“Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand in the evil day, having your loins girt about with truth and wearing the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, take the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
Eusebius put down the scroll and began to address the congregation.
“Dearly beloved,” he said, “you have just heard read to you the words of the Apostle Paul, written to the church at Ephesus at a time when he was in prison, awaiting trial before Emperor Nero and uncertain of his own fate. Yet you heard him charge all who read or hear his words not to be uncertain, but to be strong in the faith and knowledge of God and of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christians in Jerusalem
“Most of you have heard many times the story of how Paul came to be an apostle and a servant of the Lord. He admits to having been a persecutor of the Christians in Jerusalem, seeking to destroy the church. But when, in his zeal, he journeyed to Damascus in order to persecute our people there, he was struck blind by a great light on the road and heard a voice say, ‘Saul, Saul for that was the name he bore until he was called by Jesus to follow him ‘why persecutest thou me?’ And when he asked, “Who are you, Lord?’ the voice answered, ‘I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for you to kick against the goad.’
“In that very moment this man, who the instant before had been eager to reach Damascus and destroy those who served the Lord, was changed, just as many of us have been changed by the grace of God and his Son, who came to earth, suffered and gave his life for us, yet rose from the dead to give us the assurance of immortality with him in heaven, if only we will believe and accept him as our Savior.
“You have all heard many times too the story of how the followers of Christ were persecuted in Jerusalem and because of it began to spread abroad, sowing fresh seed wherever they went. In time, churches like this one were found as far to the West as Britain and in the East even to the borders of the land of the yellow men. We have as our guides not only the words of our Lord himself set down in the Scriptures and in the Acts of the Holy Apostles, written by the physician Luke, but also the letters of Paul to churches everywhere. In them, he exhorts us to stand fast, as in the passage I have just read you, putting on armor that is not forged in the heat of the furnace and taking up weapons that are not made from steel, yet which can turn men’s hearts and conquer them without the shedding of blood.
“Beloved, the Apostle Paul was not afraid, in the terrible persecution by the Emperor Nero following the burning of Rome, to suffer the same martyr’s death that was meted out to the Apostle Peter and to so many others. He was not afraid, nor must we be, for, as he wrote to the church at Philippi, ‘Our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.’”
Read More about Dura on the Euphrates
